Chapter 17 #2
She starts gathering her school stuff up to study, so I guess it’s time for me to leave. Maybe I am in a love bubble because I don’t want to go anywhere.
I get dressed and send a text to Heath to let him know I’m running five minutes late. That gives me four more minutes to kiss Reagan.
“Have fun.” She squirms out of my hold when Heath and Mav get tired of waiting and bust into the apartment. They’re calling my name and threatening to come in and get me. They would too.
Reagan stands on her toes to kiss me once more and then opens her bedroom door. “Try to stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll be good.” I wink. At least until I see her later.
Instead of going to our usual spot, The Hideout, we venture to the Prickly Pear. It’s a quieter bar a little farther away from campus.
We get a pitcher of beer and Rhett orders a round of shots. Captain Morgan—his favorite.
“Are the girls coming?” Rhett asks.
“Nope,” Heath says. “Just us tonight.”
“Ginny and Reagan aren’t coming?” Rhett stares at me with a confused expression as the server brings our liquor. “What’s the occasion?”
“No occasion. Just having a guys’ night for a change.”
We each grab a shot glass.
“Is this because of Carrie?” He holds his shot near his lips. “Am I on a fucking pity hang?”
“Take your damn shot. No, it’s not a pity hang.” I give him my most convincing face. Fuck, he figured that out way too fast.
He tosses his drink back, and the rest of us do the same.
“I’m gonna cue up some good tunes.” Maverick pushes back his chair. “Any requests?”
Rhett and I shake our heads.
“I better supervise so he doesn’t pick thirty songs by Christina Aguilera and get us kicked out like that time last year.” Heath stands to follow him.
“Good call.” I chuckle and tip my beer to him in appreciation.
It’s just Rhett and me, and I study him a little closer. Aside from those first few days where he drank too much, I haven’t really noticed any major differences in him since he broke up with Carrie, but I have been a little preoccupied.
“Have you talked to her?” I ask. No reason to beat around the bush.
“Nope.” He takes a long swig of beer, draining his glass.
He pours another as I stare down into my full drink.
“Do you want to talk to her?”
“You don’t have to do this,” he says as he leans back in his chair.
“Do what?”
“Pretend to care about Carrie. I know you’re not her biggest fan.”
“Doesn’t matter what I think. So, do you?”
“Of course, I do. I want to know that she’s okay.”
I take a drink, choosing my words carefully. “Then you should call her.”
“Seriously?”
I shrug. “What the fuck do I know about lasting relationships? I don’t think she’s the right girl for you, but if she is, then I’ll gladly shut up and be happy for you.”
“Wow. Reagan’s good,” he says as Heath and Maverick return.
“Sex talk. Finally!” Maverick looks between us. “Reagan’s good in bed, huh?” He nods. “That doesn’t surprise me. Her body is killer. And that mouth.”
Heath and Rhett are trying hard not to laugh.
“If you want to keep breathing, I suggest you stop talking.” I glower at Maverick.
Heath finally stops fighting it and chuckles quietly. “Kind of possessive. Almost like a boyfriend.”
“She’s not my—”
“Girlfriend,” they say in unison. “We know. You mention it daily.”
“I do not.” I bite back a grin.
“Are you two just hooking up, or is it leading somewhere?” Heath asks. I swear he’s the last person I would have imagined asking me that before he started dating my sister. He was the king of casual hookups.
I can’t come up with an answer easily, so I shrug.
“Is this your first fuck buddy?” Maverick asks. “Because I don’t think you’re doing it right.”
“He’s right,” Heath adds. “The whole point of not making a girl your girlfriend is to avoid sleepovers and spending time together that’s not naked. You and Reagan are together all the time. You even let her sleep at our place.”
“So?”
“She’s your girlfriend, man.” Heath waves his arms around. He’s a pretty chill dude, so I know he’s frustrated with me when he starts getting loud and talking with his hands.
“What does it matter?” I lean forward. “Bet aside. We’re having fun. I like her. She likes me. I’m trying really hard not to fuck this up.”
“You’re trying so hard not to screw up that you can’t even see how badly you’re screwing this up,” Heath says.
“What?” I look around the table for help. Reagan and I are solid, which is exactly what I tell them.
They snicker and hang their heads.
“What am I missing?”
Heath doesn’t look like he wants to share, so I look to Rhett. “Well?”
“Hold that thought. We need another round of shots.” Maverick scoots his chair back, the wood screeching along the floor. He hustles back a minute later with four shots of what looks like J?germeister. Fuck, it’s going to be a long night at this pace. “What’d I miss?” he asks as he hands them out.
“I was about to drop some enlightenment.” Rhett grins.
“Cheers to that,” Heath says and raises his glass.
After we take the shot, Rhett starts in. “It’s like pulling the goalie late in the game so you can have an extra skater on the ice.”
I think. Hard. I’ve got nothing. “How does this relate to me?”
“Yeah, I’m lost too,” Mav says. “And I know the punchline.”
Rhett fidgets with his glass. “Forget it. The point is you’re doing everything you can to make this time different, but in doing so, you’re denying Reagan exactly what she wants.”
“No,” I refute it. “She’s happy. We’re good.”
“Dude,” Mav starts. “Reagan has been into you for a long time. She’s seen you with girlfriends, and she’s wished that girl was her.
” He places his hands over his heart and bats his lashes at me.
“Wait, I think I finally figured out where you were going with that. Reagan’s the goalie in that scenario, right? ”
“No,” Rhett says, sounding annoyed.
“Scott’s the goalie?” Mav tries again.
Rhett groans. “No. No one is the goalie. I was trying to make a point that he switched things up late in the game.”
“I so didn’t get that,” Heath says.
They’re bickering back and forth over metaphors, but my stomach suddenly feels like I swallowed a bowling ball.
Rhett pins his gaze on me. “If you’d been secretly pining after someone for years and finally got your chance, would you want that person to switch things up? Or be relegated to some weird non-relationship thing different from everything you knew about how they acted in the past?”
“No, I guess not.” I think back to all of our conversations about it. “She hasn’t said anything. In fact, she’s been great about all of this. She’s cool with us not labeling it.”
“Yeah, but what could she say? I’m sure you gave her the same speech you gave me,” Rhett says and waits for my answer. I don’t though because the answer sucks.
“You told her that you wanted to do things different, that she was different, or some combination or variation of that?” He nods his head. “That right?”
“Yeah,” I manage to admit and shift in my chair.
“All she wants is to be your girlfriend. The kind of girlfriend she’s seen you have in the past. She doesn’t give a fuck about all your perfectly logical reasons why she shouldn’t be.”
A quick glance around the table tells me they’re all in agreement.
“I’m gonna use the bathroom.” I stand. “Rhett, grab us another round of Captain.”
“Me? Why? I got the first round.”
“Because you’re about to be fifty bucks richer.”
All three of them study me for a few seconds before they realize what I mean.
“What?! But? You…” Mav flounders for words, looking like I kicked his dog.
“No way,” he whines. “That’s it? But what about all of your really good reasons for not jumping into a new relationship?
” He curses under his breath. “If I’d known you were going to listen to us, I would have suggested guys’ night last week. ”
“Aww, cheer up, Mav,” I tell him. “You can help me figure out how I’m going to ask her to be my girlfriend tomorrow.”
“Something big and bold?” He grins.
“The bolder, the better.”
“Wait, why tomorrow?” Heath asks.
“She’s with the girls. I’m hanging with you guys.” I leave out the part about tonight's purpose being cheering up Rhett and making sure he’s doing okay. I still don’t know if he’s all right, so leaving feels wrong.
“Nah, let’s do this thing tonight.” Rhett finishes his beer and nods.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Look, I know this was some sort of intervention to help me get over Carrie.”
“No, we—” Heath starts, but Rhett holds up a hand.
“I’ve been moping around and sucking at practice. I get it. But I made a decision tonight. I’m going to call her, get closure, and then move on.”
“You decided that in the thirty minutes we’ve been out? Damn, we’re good,” Maverick says.
“I decided the second I realized you three were trying to help me. Like you fools have your shit together. So, yeah, please, let’s do this thing tonight. I think seeing you ask Reagan to be your girlfriend might be the cure to my shitty month.”
“All right then. Make those shots doubles.”